


The Art of Hunting

by Drosera_Sundews



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: AU with slightly different magic in where humans aren't the boring default race, Canon Compliant, Elf Culture & Customs, Elves, Fantasy Biology, Gen, Magic, Moonshadow Elf culture, herbivore elves, more or less
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-24 01:27:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20018005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drosera_Sundews/pseuds/Drosera_Sundews
Summary: Katolis has seen its share of moonshadow elves over the years. All in the form of highly skilled teams of thieves and assassins, armed to the teeth and trained to kill.It may have given them a bit of a skewed perspective on the species.





	The Art of Hunting

**Author's Note:**

> Quick remark: I absolutely love the dragon prince, I'm very excited for where the creators are going to take it and this work is in no way meant to critique them. Instead, see it as a more general critique on all fantasy media in which humans are the 'boring default species' and all the other species are humans + cool colours + rad magic. 
> 
> Not this time. Here the humans are the scary ones. (AU notes at the end)

"You know you can't sneak up on me."

Rayla didn't even have the time to startle before the human had turned around, suddenly facing her with a self satisfied grin on his face. A grin that quickly faded once he took her in. 

Shit. Well. At least she wasn't the only one who was terrified.

"Ah, you're not who I thought you're..." the human stumbled backwards, he was roughly her size, young and unarmored, thank the queen. It struck her how normal he looked. She could almost imagine he was just another elf missing his horns. 

Almost.

"You're one of those... with the pointy..."

"Oh? You don't like mah ears."

"NO!... I ah, yes. I do! Yes, I mean, I meant the pointy... swords!"

"That's far enough!" 

She pointed one blade at him. Her heart was racing and she had to tense the muscles in her arm to keep her hands from shaking. The human seemed frightened. His arms were spread, posture low. 

"I'm looking for someone."

"Oh. Ah... did you check back there?"

One second was all it took. She adverted her eyes, following his finger and he struck. Something landed on her back and she threw her hands up in reflex, Runaan’s words echoing through her mind. 

_“Once they grab you it is over.”_

She struggled but he never restrained her. Instead, she heard hurried footsteps moving away from her. Stupid! She struggled against what she realized now was only fabric. Thick and heavy fabric. 

_“In the human lands, keep your swords sharp. They’re all you can trust when your strength fails you.”_

She thrust her blades upwards, spinning around and slicing through the fabric. Then, she was off. Following the loud (so loud) footsteps of the human. 

Clattering. She turned a corner and just saw the human throwing a whole suit of armor to the floor in an attempt to block her path. That probably would have worked in a smaller room, but as it was Rayla just jumped up, running along the wall and continuing her path. Her blood rushing in her ears as the barreled towards the door. 

The sunlight blinded her momentarily, but she was trained for this, it didn’t stop her for long. She ran out onto the wall, only to…

“She’s right behind me!” 

Oh. Oh shit. Those two were armoured. And a lot bigger than her as well. Shit. 

The small one was far behind them, getting away. She might be better off running, finding another target. 

She charged forwards without losing any of her speed, swinging her swords out in their hooked shape. No. This was her first mission, she wouldn’t fail, she wouldn’t back down. 

Her heart was pounding in her chest, every muscle clenched with adrenaline. Despite the fear, the uncertainty, her life being in literal danger, she couldn’t help but feel exhilarated. Was this that ‘thrill of the hunt’ they spoke of? 

_“They’ll all be stronger, they’ll all be heavier, and most will be bigger. Even a single one could restrain you, and you’d be helpless.”_ Runaan’s face in her mind was grim as he looked down on her in memory. _“So make sure they can’t. For all the strength they possess their weight makes them slow. They can’t jump like we do, balance like we do. Use that as an advantage if your environment won’t give you any.”_

She took a running leap and soared over them, spinning with her head down and feet up. The looks on their faces! Priceless! It filled her with a cruel joy. She wanted to scream, to let out a battle cry and charge them, but she knew better. 

She nailed the landing and hooked her blades around their legs before they could even turn around. Powered by her own momentum, she pulled forwards, the two humans collapsing under their own weight.

“Hey! You swept the leg!” 

“What?” Why was he still here? 

“Uh… nothing!” He awkwardly sidestepped and resumed his panicked running. Rayla turned around quickly. The two guards, appeared unconscious. Had she really knocked them out cold? Just by sweeping their legs? Hah, must be her lucky day. 

Queen knows she wouldn’t have been able to take out two adult humans on her own in broad daylight. 

Never mind that, her target was getting away. 

* * *

“This one’s not so good at hidin’”

“I told him that!” The little prince emerged from the hay, spraying it everywhere, with his brightly glowing pet toad on his head. Clearly he’d recognized her voice, but as he stuck his head out of the hay he didn’t look at her. Instead, his gaze passed by her completely, scanning the empty courtyard. 

“Rayla?”

Oh right, the moon. “I’m right in front of ya. Look for my markings.” 

The prince frowned, still looking past her. Rayla signed, this would have been easier on literally any other day of the month. But as it was the moon was bright and full of energy, it thrummed through her to the point that she could barely see the silhouette of her own arms where they were grasping the hay. 

The prince squinted, head pulling back to look closer. Oh, did he get it? She made sure to turn her head to him so he would hopefully spot the now-blue markings below her eyes. 

Instead, he reached forwards and slowly brought his hands up, grasping her wrists. 

She stiffened, air stilling in her throat, eyes wide. _“Once they grab you it is over. Once They Grab You It’s Over! ONCETHEYGRABYOU I T S O V E R”_

“Rayla! You’re invisible!?”

The prince was smiling at her. Well, almost at her. He seemed to be looking at her forhead instead of her eyes, but it was close enough. He didn’t seem to notice how she’d tensed, how she was looking, for all the world as if someone pressed a sword to her neck. 

Worst thing was, she could tell he wasn’t actually trying to restrain her. His grip was loose, he was just trying to make sure she was there. He felt her lift one of her hands up, bringing it to his face and squinting, trying to make out the silhouette of her invisible limb. He, he wasn’t even trying. Yet she could also feel the strength in his small hands, how he manipulated her without effort. Her swords were still at her side, he had both her arms, if he wanted to, he could restrain her, beat her, drag her back to the castle. 

“Oh hey, your eye thingies are still there!” His little hands released her. Moving to his own face to trace a line below his eye, mimicking her markings. She pulled her arms back to her chest quickly. Releasing a breath she hadn’t realized she still held. 

The little prince looked at her confused, head tilted. The toad thing on his head mimicking his expression. She shook her head, gosh, how was she supposed to be scared of him if he looked like that. 

“That’s how you can tell it’s me. Now, where’s your brother?” 

“He went up to the tower to see our dad.” 

“Oh no, that’s the last place he should be right now!” 

“What do we do? Do we go back up there?”

Back to where the assassins were hunting for this little human’s dad. And him. Maybe not. 

“Nah, follow me. We’ll just… see if we can see him through the windows? Maybe if we yell at the windows we can get him ta come down.”

“Rayla?”

She looked back, the human prince was standing in front of the cart, looking around the courtyard again.”

“Can you… turn your invisibility off? It’s kind of hard to follow you if I can’t see you.” 

“Not until the sun rises I can’t.” She ran back towards the human, only hesitating for a moment before grabbing his arm and dragging him along. 

He went with her without protest, even though she knew she didn’t actually have the strength to make a human do anything, not even a little one. In her mind, Runaan was kicking up a storm. His mental voice yelling all the pieces of advice he’d drilled into her over the years, all the rules, all the strategies for fighting humans she was stubbornly ignoring. Not tonight, Runaan, not tonight.

After all, the ‘don’t come within an arm’s reach of them’ rule was for humans you were fighting. She wasn’t fighting this one. He wasn’t her enemy. 

He was… oh well, whatever, she’d figure it out. First, they had to get the other one back down. Let’s hope yelling his name in the middle in the courtyard wasn’t going to bring all the guards down upon her. 

Then again, the guards probably had bigger concerns right now...

* * *

Travelling with a moonshadow elf, Callum had found, was interesting. Very interesting. 

After the initial shock, he’d been surprised to realize that despite the terrifying stories, Rayla wasn’t very different from them. Sure, there was the skin, the eyes, the ears, and the real, actual horns sprouting from her skull, but besides that she acted like just another person. Especially if she had her cape and hood up, he could almost imagine she was just another child from the village.

She hadn’t tried to kill them, drink their blood or steal the egg. She’d been determined, filled with the drive to get away from the castle as quickly as possible, yet she had also been the one to call for breaks. Callum suspected she herself didn’t really need them. And yet, she’d taken time and care to find good camping spots, hidden and out of sight but as comfortable as she could find them, seeing as they didn’t have any camping gear. 

She’d helped Ezran over difficult terrain the few times he’d stumbled, and responded well, if not a little awkwardly, to his childish curiosity and small talk. She tried but he got the idea that she just wasn’t all that used to small children. He wondered if she had any siblings. 

Then there where the things that were clearly different. The way she always kept a very calculated distance between herself and them. The way she sometimes just didn’t follow the path but walked over the trees instead. And seriously, how did she do that? Those branches didn’t seem nearly strong enough to hold her weight, and how even did she jump so high? 

He put it on ‘super special secret assassin training’ and left it at that. Especially after Ezran, having seen Rayla walk across an especially gnarly dead tree on the side of the road just because she could, decided that was obviously the way to go. 

The following CRACK and scream startled them all. Rayla jumping what was probably close to her own height straight up into the air. For a trained assassin, she sure startled easily. Callum thought this was hilarious. 

Getting Ezran back up on his feet and relatively-mud free was much less hilarious. At least he’d learned his lesson about following the elf by now. Thank heavens for his unbreakable, optimistic spirit. 

Speaking of following elves, that was another thing that took some getting used to. The fact that Rayla straight up disappeared every time the sun set. 

He had know that moonshadow elves were invisible under a full moon. But he hadn’t realized they’d still be very nearly invisible under a nearly full moon. Also that it wasn’t a spell or a magic skill but something that just happened.

And that as the moon grew smaller her invisibility grew less thorough, leaving her half covered by the shadowy illusion magic that seemingly radiated from her skin, yet still clearly distinguishable in silhouette. Her clothes were the first to go. Still fully visible despite her skin having gone see through and shadowy. She looked like a ghost or a specter wearing normal people’s clothing. Or perhaps just a possessed suit of armor wandering around complaining about the detours.

Since agreeing to go past the lodge, this complaining had increased tenfold. 

“Hey guys… can we”

“We’re not stopping yet.”

“But I’m…”

“No snacks!”

“I was gonna say thirsty.”

“Fine, drink this.”

She produced a flask from… somewhere. Callum was starting to suspect she must have had some magic in her clothes as well. Before he could ponder on it for too long though, he took in the flask and, in reflex, spread his arm in front of Ezran. 

“Em, no thank you. We don’t drink… that.” 

“What?” 

“Blood. We don’t drink blood. We don’t mean to be rude but… you can keep it.”

“It’s moonberry juice.” 

“It’s… what?” He was too late, she’d slipped past him. She handed Ezran the bottle and he had half a thought to slap it out of his hands, but he was already too late. Ezran sniffed it briefly, and then took a long gulp.

“Oh, guess that wasn’t blood then.”

Rayla was still staring at him with some odd mix between annoyance and confusion. 

“Why’d you even… Why would I carry blood? Why did you expect that?” 

“I mean…” okay Callum, thread carefully, try not to piss off the already grumpy assassin. “I’ve heard stories. I’m sure they’re just stories though! Horrible, terrible stories. But… I mean you are an assassin.” 

She looked at him incredulously, then snorted. “Yes, and every time I make a kill I’ll stay in place and fill some bottles with blood?” 

“Well when you say it like that it sounds stupid.” 

At least he managed to cheer her up a bit. She snorted and shook her head, turning around to continue walking before seemingly thinking of something and stopping in her tracks. 

“So, you said you don’t drink blood. Is that just you two or…” 

“What?” 

She seemed, almost nervous. “Like… are you allergic? Or too young or…” 

“Humans don’t drink blood.” 

“None of them?” Tension seeped from her posture. “Oh, I guess that was just stories then. Good to know.” 

“Do elves?” 

“What, drink blood? No. Why would we.” 

“I’m very glad no one drinks blood!” Ezran said, coming up in between them and pushing the bottle back in Rayla’s hand. “But let’s keep walking okay? We still have a way to go to the lodge.” 

“Right, our quick detour to the winter lodge. Let’s go.”

* * *

“Rayla! You saved bait! Without you he would have been… fish food.” 

“That was brave Rayla.”

She sighed. “No, I already told you. I’m afraid of water.” 

“I know! That’s why doing what you did was so heroic.” 

“Oh, thanks.” She still seemed pretty downtrodden, and not very convinced. She was also panting and her arms were shaking, as if she’d swom across a lake and back instead of half the width of their small river.

“Why wouldn’t you just tell us about your fear before? It’s okay to be afraid of things.”  
Rayla sighed again, sagging in on herself. “I guess I just didn’t want you guys to see me as yet another cowardly moonshadow elf.” 

Callum almost replied that she was literally the only any-kind-of-elf they knew, but held himself back just in time. The way Rayla gazed determinedly forwards, the way her teeth and first were clenched, it seemed like there was some old hurt there. Festering old hurt. 

Time to tread carefully. “Well, Ez and I are afraid of things as well. So no, not specifically. Is that, something people think about moonshadow elves? You’re like, assassins and warriors, right? That’s not a ‘cowardly’ profession.” 

Rayla stared at him blankly for a moment. Clearly not grasping the difference in perspective. Callum waited patiently, he had the feeling he was about to learn some interesting tidbits about elf culture, and really didn’t want to miss out on that.”

“Hah,” Rayla said, “I guess you really wouldn’t know.” She was silent for a moment. Callum stayed silent, hoping it would urge her to talk about Xadia for once. 

Ezran knew no such subtlety. “What? Do the other elves think moonshadow elves are all cowards!?”

Callum internally groaned, but to his surprise, Rayla didn’t back down from the conversation. “Kind of, I guess. You know how there’s like different kinds of elves and humans? From the different countries and elements? And how they’re known for different things?” 

Ezran nodded. “I learned a little about that from the royal tutors.” He looked at Callum, “like how Del Bar has the best Smiths and hunters and Duren the best crops and farms? And then there’s Evenere and they have boats? And I’m not sure what Neolandia does.”

Callum shook his head. “I don’t think we’re talking about the same thing. I mean, sure we have five kingdoms but people move between them all the time. I don’t think elves can switch their element?”

“No, we can’t,” Rayla added, “I guess it’s not a good parallel then. But, well, all elves are born bound to one of the six elements of magic. And we all have some magic because of that. And that makes us good at certain things I guess?” She swung her hands through the air, gesturing vaguely. “You know sunfire elves can craft amazing weapons, and some of them can like, do some kind of, fire rage? It’s scary. Anyway they’re known as great warriors. Skywing elves can fly and cross great distances, earthblood elves can work the land and understand the woods like no other, you name it.”

“And moonshadow elves, well, we go invisible. You’ve seen it. And I guess that’s good for spying and fighting sometimes but mostly it’s just good for hiding. In the past when humans came over the border to attack Xadia in the night, they’d sometimes just pass by moonshadow villages, because they looked empty and abandoned. The other elves didn’t like that much, of course, cause they’d get attacked instead. Moonshadow elves are known for hiding and escaping. Bailing out of danger by just waiting for the sun to set and disappearing. Abandoning posts, abandoning duties and leaving other elves to their fate!” She was getting very fired up, almost ranting. “It’s disgusting, cowardly behavior!” 

“Wow.”

“Okay but, you’re not like that though! You’re a warrior! And even if you’re afraid of water you’re really brave in a fight!” Oh bless Ezran’s optimism.  
Rayla grumbled, losing some steam. “You know what the worst thing is? My parents actually bucked that trent. Xadia has elite guards in place to guard some of the most valuable locations and artefacts we have. And my parents made it, they got in the guard while they almost never take moonshadow elves. They trained for years! They were some of the first to prove that we can be brave. Everyone was so proud of them. But guess what? The moment the humans attacked, they fled. They left their post and dissapeared like all the other elves expected.”

“What were they guarding?” 

Rayla chuckled joylessly, and nodded her head towards the egg. “That right there.” 

“Oh wow.” 

She grinned now, seemingly coming back to herself. “I joined Runaan’s team the moment I learned of it. I wanted to be better than my parents. But when I saw that egg, well, I guess I’ve got a chance to make everything better now, right? I can fix the mistake my parents made. I can help bring the egg back to Xadia!” 

Ezran threw his hands up in the air, “Yeah!”

Rayla grinned and Callum followed suit. Filled with hope. Ezran was right, Rayla wasn’t a coward, even if she herself didn’t fully believe it yet. And somehow, at that moment, he felt as if they could actually do this. He felt like they could save the world. 

* * *

They’d almost lost Ezran. 

Rayla’s head was reeling. Bile sat heavy in the back of her throat and no matter what she did, her heartbeat would not slow down even though the actual danger was over. 

Oh nevermind, scrap that, the danger of drowning was over. The horrid, horrid uncertainty of standing on the ice, not knowing if the young prince would reach the surface. That was over, but they weren’t off the hook yet.

She shivered. She was certain the visual of Ezran trapped under the ice would haunt her for a long long time. She could almost imagine it, his eyes closing, his small body slowly going limb and pressing against the ice. But no, that hadn’t happened. They’d saved him, her by smashing the ice with her swords and Callum by bodily dragging Ezran off the ice, on his belly to prevent it from breaking any further. The long and tedious process of getting back to shore, and then lifting him up and carrying him all the way to the little cave she’d found, running around anxiously and scouting ahead while Ezran’s breathing has gone steadily more shallow. Callum had been exhausted, carrying that much weight. And Rayla, she’d just been running ahead of him, feeling useless and guilty and scared.

Her gaze flitted across the cave, desperate to keep her mind off worst-case scenarios. The egg was glowing faintly in the corner and another pang of guild shot through her. They could have lost the egg as well, the one hope for peace between their kingdoms and, like Ezran, technically only a child. And here she was, worrying about a human. 

It seemed a little silly in hindsight, but then again, Ezran had woken up, though briefly, so the worst of the panic was behind them. He was currently curled up again on the cave floor, one of the two berries still stuck in his nose. He was faintly shivering, but according to Callum, at this stage that was a good sign. 

They were lucky humans were so resilient. Rayla didn’t think she could have recovered that well from a dip in such icy water. Then again, she couldn’t have dived like that to begin with.

“Rayla.” 

She turned around. Callum was huddled up next to her, also shivering. His undershirt was missing and he just had his vest on, which he was pulling around him in a white knuckled grip to stop the cold from reaching his skin. She could relate, having stripped her outer layers to provide Ezran with at least some isolation. Her undershirt was wholly inadequate for this weather as well, but as least it still covered all of her skin. 

“I… The berries were a good idea, but it won’t be enough.” 

He said it solemnly, and Rayla signed. She’d had her suspicions. Human diets were still a little nebulous to her. She’d heard awful stories, but the only thing she’d really seen them eat so far was the almost stone-like loaf of long bread. They’d been happy enough going along with her diet of scavenged berries, fruits, nuts and the occasional root vegetable. And yet, the vigor with which they kept trying to eat the rock hard bread had worried her. 

“He’s asleep now and the fire will be going for a while. I know we can’t go far but we should try to get some food. He’ll be weak when he wakes up, heck,” he looked down at himself, gesturing at his stomach, “I won’t make it to the next village at this rate.” 

She swallowed, knowing what was coming. “We’re too high up. Nothing edible grows here. I gave Ezran all the berries I had left.” 

“Yeah, plants are out of the question. I don’t want to go too far from the cave. But I saw a few rabbit holes, I think, on the way here. I know it’s a long shot but there’s two of us, and you’re a trained assassin.” 

Shit, so those stories were true. She swallowed, closed her eyes. He was right, she was an assassin. She’d been trained to kill. 

She definitely hadn’t trained to hunt alongside a human. But for Ezran, she’d do it. 

She unsheathed her swords. “Let’s go.” 

* * *

The wind was howling loud in her ears. Even in the small forested area they’d found, with the trees providing some cover, the wind still chilled her to the bone. Her hands were stiff where they were digging into the dirt, her skin even paler than normal. Callum, it seemed, wasn’t much better off. 

“DID THEY COME OUT YET?!” Callum yelled. The wind carrying his voice away from where he was crouched near another tunnel, the sound barely reaching her. 

Her face felt like a stone mask, frozen and ready to crack at the slightest movement. She just shook her head, hoping he’d see it past the snow. The tips of her ears had gone completely numb, pins and needles assaulting them. Even her horns were aching, a hollow pain that seemed to spread inside her skull. “THEY’RE NOT COMING OUT CALLUM!”

He yelled something in defiance, the words not reaching her ears, and resumed his desperate digging. He was supposed to scare the rabbits here way, the only other tunnel they’re left unplugged. He’d told her normally they’d use fire, but the cave was too far and her hands too stiff. The rabbits, if they were even alive down there at all, weren’t spooked by Callum’s digging, the tunnel in front of her remaining empty as ever. 

“Cursed!” She whispered to herself, ignoring the sting in her eyes. She stood up, abandoning her tunnel and jumping to the top of the supposed burrow. Callum was still digging, movements jerky and fueled by desperation. Half of his torso was out of her view, underground by now. Rayla shook her head, what if they hadn’t found all the tunnels? Callum would know right? He was a human. They knew how to hunt, right? 

She took off running, going in a spiral from the burrow and looking for any tunnels they might have missed. Sprinting and desperate to get some blood back in her extremities. Maybe if she found just another tunnel. It would work, it had to!

She stumbled, barely able to feel her feet. The snow stung her eyes, reducing her vision until she had to jump out of the way of trees. She had to be careful, she couldn’t lose Callum. 

A dark shape passed her on her left and she skidded to a halt. Looking back she saw it right away, another tunnel, one they must have missed in their first round around the area. This one was significantly bigger than the others, it could maybe even fit her if she crawled. This had to be the rabbit burrow’s main entrance, or exit? Didn’t matter, it was a second chance. 

“CALLUM!” She yelled, trying to get his attention. They’d have to plug her smaller tunnel, and maybe he could dig here. Or had he already scared the rabbits away from his tunnel? How did this even work? 

She crouched and wedged her body partially inside the tunnel. The shelter from the wind was an immediate relief and she signed, finally being rid of the constant howling in her ears. 

Something grunted softly in the darkness in front of her. 

For a moment she was ecstatic, finally a sign that this burrow was inhabited. She reached out to grab her blade, more than ready to slice this rabbits throat and be done with this.

Not a second to early she changed her mind, pulled back and ducked out of the way as a massive, surely not bunny-like shape shot out of the darkness and charged.

Her scream was taken by the wind as she smashed into the snow, seeing stars for a second and disoriented as the ever present howling came back. Except now she heard squealing over the wind, bestial growling and grunting as the dark shape turned. A massive figure in the snow, black and featureless but for two beady eyes, fixed on her. 

She yelled again and drove to the side, something sharp catching her shoulder and ripping her tunic and part of her skin, she clawed at the nearest tree, trying to get up, only for the massive shape to slam sideways into her. All the air left her as her ribcage was violently crushed between bark and fur. A musky, bitter scent filling her nostrils. She grabbed for her swords, but her fingers, curled up and cold and numb, could not get a hold of them. Then suddenly, it was on top of her.

She yelped in pain as two sharp, cloven hooves stomped down on her chest. She looked up, staring straight into the horrifying maw of her attacker, all sharp teeth and long tusks, one of which was covered in blood. She tried to buck it off but the weight was immense. Her body, light by merit of being made of magic, was not even close to strong enough to budge this beast. She tried to scream, but her lungs wouldn’t expand. She wasn’t getting air. It was crushing her!

Then suddenly, another weight slammed into them. Suddenly she could breathe, taking in a mouthful of frigid air despite the burning cold. The darkness on the edges of her vision faded, and she gazed around I a panic, fearing a second creature had joined the fray. 

It was Callum, and he was screaming. Not that she could hear it, but she could see his face as he was backing up desperately, holding the beast, the boar, by the tusks as it was trying vigorously to charge him, swinging his head side to side, gleaming tusks almost hitting skin. 

“RAYLA! SWORD!” 

She shook her head, shocked out of her stupor and grasped the tree for real this rime, hoisting herself up her feat. She heard Callum scream, in a fit of desperate strength, he too charged, somehow pulling the boar up and off its forefeet. They stood, locked together as if dancing, the boar halfway in the air with its back to her, the fur on end and bristling, muscles rippling where it was still trying to slash with its tusks.

Rayla didn’t think twice, she struck.

‘I can’t believe that was my first kill.’

The thought set in rather late. Long after they’d fled the forest, dragging the downed boar with them. Callum hadn’t quite managed to expain it to her in the raging wind, but the few words she got, “BOAR”, “FAMILY” and “BURROW” had made her extra eager to leave. It set in long after she got over the nausea of seeing this much blood. She’d thought that as a woman and a warrior, that would be the least of her problems, but the trail of gore they left behind as they dragged the boar’s still corpse through the snow as a whole new level of awful.

It even set in after Callum had, in the blessed cover of the cave, fashioned a spit and started roasting the boar. After having cut of the skin with one of Rayla’s knifes, a task she figured she really wasn’t ready for. He admitted to her that he had also never done anything like this before, but he’d seen his castle staff make roast and that would have to do. She kind of wanted to ask him how many beings he’d killed, but lost her nerve.

Disturbingly enough, the scent of blood had shifted into something unfamiliar that wasn’t actually all that unpleasant. It didn’t smell like food, not elven food at least, and looking over at the carcass made her stomach churn enough that she was sure she wouldn’t be able to eat this if she wanted to, but it didn’t smell as awful anymore.

“I hope Ezran won’t be too mad if he wakes up and sees this,” Callum said, exhausted but cheerful. “He loves animals… but he’ll get it, I think. We really need the food. And gosh, this is so much food. We did great, Rayla! I guess I should have expected that, right? You’re an assassin after all, hunting must be child’s play for you.”

‘It really isn’t,’ she tought. ‘No elf would ever do something like this. You took me hunting and by that you’ve taught me more about human culture that years of teaching ever could. Taught me more about killing than years of assassin training has done.’

Then there it was. ‘I can’t believe that was my first kill.’

She never managed to answer Callum, just flashed him a tired smile and a thumbs up, hiding the massive inner turmoil she was suddenly experiencing. 

It took a few hours of awkward improvised cooking before Callum deemed the meat save, and another hour or so for Ezran to wake up. Callum had been right, he was extremely weak, but also seemed to be too exhausted and out of it to refuse the meat Callum offered him. She could almost see the strength coming back to him, disturbing as that was. 

She eyed her blades, still red with the this time real blood of her first kill. She’d die for Xadia, sure, but that wasn’t what assassins were for. She hadn’t been able to kill for Xadia, but, she realized as she looked over at the two brothers, she had been able to kill for them. And seeing Ezran’s strength and smile slowly return to him, she knew she could do it again.

It was two days later that they departed from the cave. Ezran back to full strength. The egg was still dim, but their spirits were slightly lifted. 

Ezran grasped her hand an hour into their trek. He pulled her to the side and took Callums hand as well, happily swinging his arms as he walked in between them. She still heard Runaan’s voice in her subconscious, warning her about going melee with humans. Yet she didn’t flinch at the small human’s touch, there was no fear. 

She trusted them, she wouldn't fear them anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope y’all enjoyed that. Some quick notes on this AU. 
> 
> \- In this universe, all magical creatures including elves are made partially of magic. This means they have a much lower body mass than a human their size would. This allows them to do cool jumps and run in the treetops, but also means that if they ever get into a fistfight with a human, they’ll be pretty much guaranteed to lose.  
> \- Due to this, humans are actually feared by the magical population. Any elf who’s not trained in magic and doesn’t manage to get away in time can easily be bested by a human, even by a young one. (Think of the 'humans are space orcs' trope, except minus the 'space'.)  
> \- Some other consequences: Humans are much better at building and agriculture, and anything that involves manual labor and heavy lifting. Which is necessary since, due to their larger food requirement, they can’t pull off the ‘living in balance with the forest’ thing the elves do.  
> \- Humans are omnivores, elves are herbivores. Being an assassin elf is a fairly rare thing, since elves have no innate hunting instincts. Learning how to hunt and kill is much harder for them.  
> \- Dark magic by itself isn’t much more ‘evil’ than eating meat. It’s more the idea that humans, who are already super strong compared to the elves, would also have magic on top of that. This is freaking out the elves big time, leading to the stigma.  
> \- Also in this AU moonshadow elves go ghostly every moonlit night and not just on the full moon cause I thought that’d be cooler. Also, they can’t usually turn it on and off.


End file.
